April 20, 2009: Be Alert!

The 10th anniversary of the Columbine incident is not to be taken lightly, especially in the wake of so-called rampage killings in Illinois, Alabama, Nevada, and Germany recently.

After the Amish school shootings of October 2, 2006, I was interviewed by various media about the copycat effect.

Bridget Brown of Toronto's Canadian TV online edition wrote the following, October 4, 2006:

"Coleman says violent offenders, intent on shocking the public, sometimes 'compete for the highest body count.'...the copycat crimes will likely slow down as we near winter. He says spring, and the anniversary of Columbine, could be enough to spark another cycle of tragedy."

Here's a snippet from Montana's Daily Inter Lake, for October 5, 2006:

"There is also the influence of cable news to be accounted for, as wall-to-wall coverage of shootings and murder could easily sway sick minds to think of killers as culture heroes. Indeed, researcher Loren Coleman believes copycats imitate previous violent attacks on a regular basis. He says school attacks follow a pattern after a media event in a day, a week, two weeks, a month, a year, or 10 years. 'Vulnerable humans have internal media clocks,' he maintains."

The spring, following the violent fall of 2006, was a cause for concern during the week near the Columbine anniversary. Then, unfortunately, in confirmation of my warnings (especially after the Dawson College through Amish shootings' media attention), on Monday, April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech "happened."

Now consider what we are in the midst of. Watch how this is being handled on the screens across America.

The 10th anniversary of the Columbine killings and double-suicides occurs on Monday, April 20, 2009, which is also the 120th anniversary of the birth of Adolf Hitler. Hitler died by his own hand, ten days after his birthday, on April 30, 1945, a mere 64 years ago. This year's ten day period will be a dangerous "red zone," in the larger high frequency time period of March through April.

April 26th is Hitler's right hand man, Rudolf Hess's birthday and the anniversary of the Erfurt, Germany school shooting in 2002, when Robert Steinhäuser killed 16 and then himself.

Murder and suicide are two sides of the same coin played out in going postal, workplace violence, shooting spree, and school shooting incidents, which are impacted by the copycat effect.

Being forewarned and aware is half the battle. Vulnerable, suicidal, homicidal youth need help and attention, long before it gets to the stage where they feel there's no turning back. Keep talking, take care, get people help, and remain alert, with your guard up.

A few bloggers may wish to demean the predictive insights of known patterns, but ridicule does not overwhelm the reality of history.